1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a liquid collection container which can receive liquid and a liquid ejecting apparatus including the liquid collection container.
2. Related Art
An ink jet printer (hereinafter, simply referred to as “printer”) has been widely known as an existing liquid ejecting apparatus which ejects liquid onto a target through nozzle openings formed on a liquid ejecting head. In such a printer, so-called cleaning is normally performed in order to suppress clogging of the nozzle openings due to ink (liquid) of which viscosity has been increased, discharge air bubbles and dusts mixed into the ink in the recording head (liquid ejecting head), and so on (for example, see JP-A-2007-296757). In the cleaning, the ink of which viscosity has been increased is forcibly sucked from the recording head as waste ink (liquid) so as to be discharged.
In the printer as described in JP-A-2007-296757, a waste ink tank is provided in the printer in a detachable manner. The waste ink which has been forcibly sucked from the recording head by the cleaning is discharged to the waste ink tank (liquid collection container) through a flexible tube. The waste ink tank is arranged at a predetermined place in the printer. The flexible tube functions as a liquid flow path. Further, the waste ink is absorbed by a waste ink absorbing material (liquid absorbing material) accommodated in the waste ink tank.
In the printer as described in JP-A-2007-296757, the waste ink which has been discharged to the waste ink tank and absorbed by the waste ink absorbing material is easy to permeate to a lower side on the waste ink absorbing material by the gravity force. On the other hand, such waste ink is difficult to permeate in the horizontal direction or to an upper side from a discharged place. Therefore, the waste ink becomes localized at a lower portion of the waste ink absorbing material and the waste ink cannot be dispersed to the entire region of the waste ink absorbing material. Accordingly, there has arisen a risk that the waste ink cannot be sufficiently absorbed by the waste ink absorbing material.